Improve Your Work Philosophy for Better Productivity

Improve Your Work Philosophy

Improve Your Work Philosophy

We probably all know this look of frustration. Maybe you’re 10 hours into building a giant email nurture and you just found out all the copy (and links) need to change. The way we approach our work (and the problems that occur as we’re working) affects our job performance. If you keep telling yourself that you hate a particular project or responsibility, you’re not going to suddenly like it one day.

You might never love starting a project over from scratch, but you can make things better for yourself by changing your work philosophy. Here are a few tips for improving your productivity just by changing how you approach things.

Nothing is impossible

This might sound a little ridiculous (or like the tagline of an elementary school poster). But I promise you that once you approach every problem as though it’s solvable, things will seem a lot easier. So that nurture that you have to rebuild? Not an impossible task. Take a deep breath, and determine the most time-efficient way to approach this. Maybe you need to delegate this task to someone else or get help from a colleague. You can step back in for reviews and testing.

Of course, some things will be impossible. Maybe someone is asking you to complete something within a timeline that just isn’t realistic. Or perhaps they want to put together a campaign with assets you don’t have or technology you don’t have access to. These are impossibilities, but your response shouldn’t be “Never gonna happen.” Find a solution that comes close. Say “We can make this work if…” By asking “How can we make this happen?” you eliminate the perceived challenges associated with every new project.

Own it

If you notice something that’s broken, fix it. Too often we have a mentality of “not my problem.” We can be hands-off when we’re not directly responsible for something.

I’m not saying you need to do cross-training so you can solve problems in departments you don’t belong to. I’m saying you should have a broader view of your responsibilities. You’re not on the website team, but you notice an error on the contact page. Reach out to the person who does take care of that. Don’t have a true 9-5 work philosophy where you punch in, punch out, and complete only the things in your job description. You’re there to benefit your company as a whole. Speaking up when you have an idea or notice something that isn’t right is part of your job description. So the next time you notice an error, own it like it’s your job.

Ask for help

A lot of times employees will struggle silently with a task because they want to figure it out on their own. But there’s no reason to suffer (and waste time) like that. It’s OK to ask for help. Amanda Palmer taught me that.

If you find yourself spending a lot of time on something that should be simple, ask for feedback. And if you’re not sure from the get-go, find out how much time you’re expected to spend on something. Don’t be afraid that asking a question makes you seem inexperienced or confused. Asking questions is a positive. It means you value clarification and want to do the best job possible.

Your co-workers are also your team members. So act like you’re on the same team and help one another out. Be the team member that other co-workers turn to for help as well.

DemandZEN’s work philosophy goes hand-in-hand with our core values. Make sure you have clearly defined corporate core values. That will help with introducing new work philosophies to your team members.

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DemandZEN specializes in Account-Based Demand Generation and solving the challenges around finding, engaging and converting target accounts into real opportunities for B2B Technology and Services companies.

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